Streamlining Your Work in Photoshop

Taking advantage of Photoshop's built-in automation commands Working with Actions Using prerecorded scripts

J\ lot of the work that you do in Photoshop is fun — experimenting with filters, applying creative adjustments, cloning over former in-laws, that sort of thing. A bunch of your work, though, is likely to be repetitive, mundane, and even downright boring. That's where automation comes in. If a task isn't fun to do, if you need to speed things up, or if you need to ensure that the exact same steps are taken time after time, automation is for you.

I open the chapter with a look at some of Photoshop's major automation features — commands that help you quickly and easily create presentations and contact sheets. Next, I show you a couple of production-oriented commands that let you print multiple images on a single sheet of paper (and we know how much money that can save!) and how to save time by scanning multiple images in a single pass and then automatically separating them into individual files. After that, you see how to play Photoshop's Actions and even record your own. The chapter wraps up with a quick look at scripts, which are sort of little computer programs that you use to control your computer — Photoshop, other programs, your printer, or even an operating system itself.

Are You Frustrated Because Your Graphics Are Not Looking Professional? Have You Been Slaving Over Your Projects, But Find Yourself Not Getting What You Want From Your Generic Graphic Software? Well, youre about to learn some of the secrets and tips to enhance your images, photos and other projects that you are trying to create and make look professional.